Manga is literature!
by Rainshadow123
Summary: A ddlc fanfic that explores the Natsuki route. Also the girls are normal in this story i.e. Monika isn't crazy. I don't own Doki Doki Literature club
1. The encounter

I can't believe my eyes, this club is filled with beautiful girls! Sayori had led me to a gold mine of my dreams, but while I was celebrating my luck a pink haired girl rushed into the room. "The cupcakes ar-Ugh" She let out a sigh, "A boy" She said with disgust.

"Christ, sorry for existing" I defended myself.

Sayori butted in "Guys, stop" she said gently "Lets all just be friends" She continued in her cheery way.

"Hmpf" The pink eyed menace sulked. It was hard to think she's part of the literature club, god I hope I don't have to see her every day. Maybe that was harsh, I mean she is cute.

"What are you looking at" The nasty bitch said, with a hint of embarrassment.

"Uh, I-Um" I stuttered and started blushing, I hang my head in shame.

As if in sync when I look up at her she's blushing, perhaps even more than me.

"Don't worry about Natsuki, she's always been like this" A voice behind me says.

"Monika!" Sayori exclaims cheerily.

I knew Monika, she was in my class last year. I doubt she remembers me though I mean, for as long as I can remember the only girl I've talked to is Sayori. That's not to say I was a reject, I was popular amongst the lads. I was an average build, at 5'10 and but decent amount of my 14 stone was muscle. I'd always get held back by my incompetence with girls. Monika on the other hand excelled in about everything, and to top it of she was a fitty.

"I knew I recognised you" She exclaimed "How's it going, Greig?" Monika said, genuinely.

I was gobsmacked, this beautiful girl had recognised me. I tried to respond:

"I-I'm fine thanks, how are you?" I said awkwardly.

"I'm doing great, Sayori had told me you were thinking about joining the club?" She said with a glint in her eye.

As I was about to talk a tall mature girl came around the corner with a tea set. When she noticed me, she blushed and dipped her head down to hide.

"U-Um hi" I greet her

She places the tea pot and cups down and hurries away to stand next to Sayori.

"This is Yuri, she's shy but don't let that deceive you, she's a lovely girl" Sayori explains.

"H-Hi, G-Greig" She mumbles.

I smile in response.

Now I knew every girl by name, we discussed joining the club.

"You wanted to join eh?" Natsuki says with a smirk.

I actually never said anything about joining I thought to myself, but before I could word my response Natsuki stood up and walked to her bag. She pulled a box out of her bag and proceeded to place the box in the middle of the table. Sayori reaches in and pulls out a cupcake, she hands it to me with a smile. I can't help but sigh and smile along with her. She's clumsy but man could she be cute, I've known her for years. I suppose you could say she's my best friend. I take the cupcake and inspect it, it has a cat drawn on it with icing. Before I take a bite, I look up at Natsuki who has one eye on me, our eyes meet for a second. She turns around,

"Are you just gonna look at it?" she says sharply.

I take a bite, it's sweet, a bit too sweet, but it was tasty. I finish the whole thing in the next bite. Natsuki is staring intensely at me now. I try to ask what her problem is, but my mouth was full and I don't want to be seen as rude to these cute girls. I swallow, but before I can ask why she was looking at me:

"W-What do you think" She murmurs.

"Eh?" I say, dumbfounded.

"Don't make me say it again, was it good?" She speaks, louder this time her face starting to flush.

"O-Oh yeah, it was awesome" I say

She looks me in the eye. "R-Really?" she says sincerely, with excitement on the end.

"Yeah, these are the best cakes I've ever had" I say, nonchalantly.

"Th-Thanks I guess" She mumbles, blushing beet red.

In the background Monika and Sayori are chatting,

"How dense can he be?" Monika sighs, clearly annoyed.

"He's always been like this" Sayori whispered into her ear.

Monika calls me over "We don't do activities all the time, we spend a lot of time messing on"

"Oh" I respond. I look around, she's right. Yuri has her head stuck in a book, Natsuki is around a corner, and Sayori is staring into space holding a book. I decide to see what Natsuki is doing. "Hey" I say as cutesy as I can.

"Oh, hey" Natsuki says, sounding annoyed it was me.

"What you doing back here?" I ask, hoping to start a conversation.

"It's none of your business" She hisses back at me.

"Wow is that manga?" I ask, ignoring her shitty attitude

"S-So what if it is" She retorts, "You can piss off if your gonna bully me about it".

"Chill out, I read it myself" I try to calm her down.

"You do?" She says, getting close to my face.

"Y-Yeah" I mumble, getting embarrassed.

She grabs a manga from the book shelve, "Y-You wanna read together?" She asks looking up at me.

Even if I didn't want to, I wouldn't have the heart to say no. "Yeah, let me grab a chair" as I go to grab a chair she sits down and pats the ground next to her. I recognise what she's saying and sit down next to her. She hands me the manga, and I start reading. It's a standard 'cute girls doing cute things' story, but I guess it could be worse. She leans in closer, and whispers "Do you like it?".

I blush a little and respond, "Yeah, it's pretty funny"

She smiles "I know right" and giggles afterwards.

I start to think to myself, 'How can a girl be this cute?'. She scoots closer, her shoulder under mine. I look down at her, startled at how close she was.

"I-It's so we can read easier, d-don't get the wrong idea" She pouts.

Man, she's unreal.


	2. Unknown pleasures

We keep reading until she all of a sudden falls into me, I manage to keep my balance, but only barely. I look down at her ready to scold her, but notice she's drifted off. She looks uncomfortable, so without much thought I place her head onto my lap. She looks unbelievably cute when she's asleep, so much so that I can't take my eyes of her. I run my hands through her hair, but then stop myself. I start blushing realising what I've done.

"C-Carry on then" She stutters.

I turn beet red. "Sorry" I sheepishly slur.

She exhales through her nose, laughing at my embarrassment. "Hurry up then" She teases.

I rub her head gently, once again transfixing my eyes on her face. She turns over, and looks me in the eyes. I maintain eye contact and she starts to blush. But before anything else happens a certain voice calls out "Time for an activity guys!". Footsteps start to get closer, and Natsuki starts panicking. I try to help get out of the way, but she ends up falling over. I guess she's clumsy as well as cute. Before she hits the floor, I move underneath her. She lands on top of me. "Are you okay?" I say, worried.

"Ow" She moans rubbing her head. She looks me in the eye and starts freaking out. "Y-Your bleeding!". I rub my head and sure enough, there's blood.

"I'll be fine" I say, not really caring as long as she was okay.

She starts fidgeting "S-Sorry" She whimpers, quietly.

Before I can comfort her, the footsteps arrive at their destination. "A-Ah" Monika hums. She sees Natsuki sat on top of me, with both of us blushing. Before she could infer anything else Natsuki butts in. "IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, I PROMISE" She shouts.

"A-Ahah" Monika awkwardly chuckles.

We eventually stand up, and I wipe the blood off my forehead. It was only a graze, so it'll heal by tomorrow. We sit at the table, I take the seat next to Natsuki, who now looks in a bad mood.

"With a new member in the club we decided that some bonding would be useful" Monika states "Although it's good to see Greig has already started" She says with a smile, trying not to laugh. I turn red and Natsuki is avoiding eye contact. Sayori and Yuri look confused, "Did something happen" Sayori asks clueless as usual.

"I suppose you could say that" Monika continues. "But anyways, the activity we'll be doing is writing a poem"

"Hmm?" Yuri hummed, before realising what Monika had just said, "I-I'm not really sure"

"Come on Yuri, you're great at poetry" Sayori cheers her on.

I decide to add to the persuasion, "I'd love to read your stuff, Yuri".

She nods her head and turns away. Monika continues "As I was saying, I want these done by tomorrow, where we'll share them". I've never enjoyed poetry that much, it's always boring so I never really thought I'd do much of it.

"What are we writing about?" I ask, expecting a task.

"Nothing, do what you like" Sayori responds

"That's the beauty of poetry, anything is possible" Yuri says, completely out of the blue.

I'm somewhat taken aback, this could be good.

"Club over!" Monika announces.

I start to walk home with Sayori, after all we're neighbours so it makes sense. We chat about life in general "What did you think of the Literature club?" She suddenly asked.

"I loved it" I responded, bluntly.

"Really?" She asked, really excited.

"Yeah, I didn't think I'd fit in, but I did" I say looking her in the eye.

"You like Natsuki huh?" She teases, but her eyes look hurt. I Ignore this for now.

I stay silent, she starts smiling "You do then!"

"Ngh" I murmur.

"Wait until I tell her this" She shouts, keeping an eye on me.

"P-Please don't" I say, blushing.

"That confirms it" She says, much calmer this time.

I've been done here. I drop her off at her house and go into my own. Man, what a day, I've met 2 cute girls and have talked to another one. I even got close to Natsuki. When I think about her, I feel my face turn red. I guess I should think about what my poem is gonna be.

I've been sat for hours now, and still haven't thought of an idea. All I can think about is today with Natsuki, but then an idea pops into my head. It's gonna be cringey. I scribe down the poem, it's cringey but could be worse. I go downstairs to grab a drink, black coffee ideally. While its brewing I check the time, 3:45; Fuck. I rush to bed, the kettle still boiled. I awake 3 hours later, why. I start my morning routine. Brush teeth, shower, eat breakfast, shower. Wait have I eaten breakfast? I leave the house at half past 7, and wake Sayori up. "Sayori, it's time to wake up" I shout at her window.

She leans out the window "Okay!" She shouts, her eyes still closed.

I open the door "Thanks for having me" I say, casually at this point. Me and Sayori have known each other for so long that we just enter each other's houses without invitation. "Hey" I greet her.

"Wait a minute, I'm getting dressed" She shouts down the stairs.

Close call, "Okay" I shout back up.

She rushes down the stairs in a flurry, her shirt unbuttoned still. I blush "W-What are you doing".

"Hm?" She hums, perplexed.

"Y-You haven't buttoned up your s-shirt" I murmur.

She realises and lets out a little squeak. "Sorry" She says with a smile, while rubbing her head.

"Don't apologize, button your shirt up already!" I start to lose my patience, my face beet red.

She giggles and buttons up her shirt. By the time the ordeal had finished and she'd had breakfast, we were running late. We have a brisk walk to school, and Sayori is having to jog to keep up. "G-Greig" "slow" "down" She pants. I was pretty athletic so I suppose she'd struggle to keep up.

"Fine" I respond.

She stumbles over and rests on my shoulder a second. I imagine if someone saw us they'd think we're a couple. "You okay?" I ask, not really caring for an answer.

"Yeah" she says in-between breaths.

"We'll walk slower from now on" I reassure her.

"Okay" She exclaims cheerily.

We make it school on time somehow, what a start. First period was English, it was rough. I was falling asleep mid-way through sentences. An 'acquaintance' of mine teased me about talking in my sleep. Apparently, I was talking about tsunderes and cupcakes, thank god I didn't say her name. I grind through second and third period by drinking canned coffee, which at this point was a god send.

After fourth I stumble down to the cafeteria, my caffeine high wearing off. I order miso soup and a huge bowl of rice, even though I'm not that hungry. I was hoping that eating healthy would help wake me up, but I just can't eat all of this. I've never been a huge lunch eater anyways. As I get up to throw the rest in the bin (Yes, I know it's wasteful but hey-ho), I notice a spot of pink on the floor. I see Natsuki reading there. I approach her, "Yo".

She jumps startled, but when she sees me she throws a kick at my shins. I lift my leg up and it misses. "Don't startle me like that" she growls.

"I'm sorry, chill" I say trying to calm her down and tease her at the same time.

"Y-Yeah" she responds, believing me.

"Why are you on the floor?" I ask, trying to be polite.

"None of your business" She responds aggressively.

Without thinking much, I hold the tray of food in one hand. "You wanna finish this?" I ask.

Her eyes light up, she all of a sudden looks starving. I place the tray on a free table. Before I can pat the seat next to me, she rushes and sits down.

"I-I can have this?" She asks.

With eyes like those I couldn't say no if I wanted to. "Of course you can".

She starts wolfing down the lunch, I can't help but watch in amazement.

"W-what" She mumbles, seemingly embarrassed by me watching her.

I try to think of an excuse, "Y-you have something on your face" I exclaim, panicking.

Luckily, I'm not wrong, but in my fluster, I grab a tissue and wipe it off. She sits, blushing profusely.

I blush.

She bursts out laughing, "Why are you blushing, you're the one who did the thing!".

"N-Nice grammar" I return.

"Piss off" She giggles.

We spent the rest of lunchtime chatting and joking. Fifth period was unbearable, I was excited for the club. After all, I'd worked hard on my poem. I shared this period with Sayori, she was dosing off as usual. I throw an eraser at her. She jumps as it connects. She throws a nasty look my way before realising that I was the culprit. She pouts and looks away, then opens one eye to make sure I'm still watching her. I pretend not to look, but secretly keep an eye on her. She picks up the eraser and lines up her shot, I wait. As she throws it, I lean back and hold my hand out. I catch the projectile and look straight at her with a cheeky grin.

As the last period ends, we make our way to the club. We weren't late but were still the last people in. "Hey" I greet everyone.

"Hey" Monika responds.

"Hello" Yuri says almost whispering.

But Natsuki was no-where to be seen, I would have sworn I'd seen her a moment ago. Sayori starts chatting to Monika, while Yuri buries her head into her book. I wonder what book she's reading. But my thoughts are shattered when a squeal comes from around the corner near the bookshelf. I wander over, already knowing who will be there to greet me. "hey" I say, premeditating the angry midget.

"Hmpf" she mumbles.

"What was that noise?" I ask, thinking of a way to tease her.

"I-It was nothing" She grumbles.

"It sounded awfully cute" I whisper next to her ear, getting closer.

She turns her head, "I-" our noses touch. We stay like this for a moment, staring into each other's eyes. I turn beet red, as does she.

"Y-Your pretty cute yourself" She murmurs, tucking her face behind her hands.

"Let's read some manga" I say, stumbling over myself trying to cool down the situation.

"S-Sure" Natsuki says, deflated.

I sit down on the floor, my mind wandering. I know exactly why she was disappointed, but that just makes me more excited. I'm so caught up in my thoughts that I don't even notice her sit down beside me. "Greig, are you lis-" I cut her off. Not with words, but I turn my head. And yet again I find myself in this situation where our noses touch. I feel her breath roll over my lips, it wasn't like last time where we were in a trance. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

But again, I hesitate.

Man, I'm fucking stupid. We both turn away and start to read the manga. My chest is so heavy I think I might die. She rests her head on my shoulder, "It's to read the manga, don't get the wrong idea or anything" She says, her pride intact.

God, she's such a Tsundere.

"Yeah, yeah sure" I respond, trying for a reaction. She shuffles closer. Our faces were nearly touching now, but I didn't dislike it. She places her hand on my thigh, "hm!" I jump, startled by her doing so.

"I was falling, sorry" she says, completely failing to hide the lie.

The lie was only amplified when she kept her hand there. By the time Monika had called us, we'd finished the manga, but I couldn't recall a single line.

"Time to share our poems!" Monika exclaims, cheerfully.

Shit.

I walk over to Natsuki, hoping to share my poem with her first. But as I'm about to ask her, I panic. 'What if she doesn't like it', Oh god. I'll never be able to talk to her again. I hand Monika my poem first.

"It's clear to see your very passionate about something in this poem" she says, innocently. "And it looks as though you've been writing a while?"

"N-No, this is the first time I've ever written a poem" I respond, bashful at the praise.

"It's very good, but you could work on shortening it down" she critiques.

"Thanks, I will" I say, genuinely taking the advice.

I read her poem, it clearly had some underlying message. But I was too incompetent to see it. I repeated these words to her.

"Not at all, it isn't easy to understand a poem straight away" she comforts me "Especially if your new to poetry".

I move on to Sayori.

"Hey" I greet her.

"Yo" She responds, with a giggle.

We exchange poems.

"Wow" She suddenly breaths. "This is really good!".

"T-Thanks" I respond, still unable to take a compliment. "Yours was really sweet as well".

"Thanks!" She gleefully replies.

This time, I could guess what it was about. I was a novice to poetry, but not an idiot. Through the cheery overtones was a lingering sorrow. It'd worried me a little, I guess I'll ask about it later.

Yuri was sat, waiting for me.

"Hi" I say, much gentler than to the other girls. Hoping to set a mood where she'll be comfortable.

"Hello" She replies, mellow.

We exchange poems, not knowing what to expect.

"It's good" She starts, "But you make some rookie errors".

"Y-Yeah?" I say, taken aback by her sudden assertiveness.

"You use a wide range of vocabulary, and your premise is good, but your structure is lacking"

"Oh" I'd not really thought about structure, I was too busy cringing. "I'm sorry, but your poem was too deep for me to get" I say, trying not to sound rude.

"T-Thanks" she took it as a compliment. "Not many people even recognise that it has a deeper meaning".

The moment I'd been dreading and ecstatic for.

"Y-Yo" I say, jumbling my words already.

"H-Hey" She joins in with my awkwardness.

As we exchanged poems our hands touched. I swallowed heavily and looked up to see the pink haired beauty blushing. A tear came to her eye. I sit confused for a second, staring at her. She looks up from the poem, and stares at me. "W-Was this-" she turns absolutely beet red. "W-Why?" the tears start falling. "Why are you so nice to me?". I can't think of words; my mind is all over the place. But I feel as though the solution is obvious. I stand up and pull her head into my chest. That was it, the girl who'd been strong enough to hold so much pain, had let it all loose at once. She cried and cried, clinging to me, as though I was worth as much as her.

The other girls turned to see what the commotion was. But rather than glares of hatred, I got kind-hearted gazes, which welcomed the support.

Natsuki cried and cried. She stopped what must have been an hour later, after all the girls had left. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me" She choked out. And at that moment pure horror hit me as I realised why she was crying. Yes, it was nice having a poem about her, but the fact someone was thinking about her was even more so.

"Talk to me" I say, hoping I was doing the right thing.

"Huh?" She sobs.

"I want to help you, I want to save you from whatever torment you're going through" I'm not usually one for words like this, but it felt so natural, so right.

She tightened her grip around my waist. "Can I go back to yours for the night?"

"Sure"


	3. In between days

We start walking to my place, she still hasn't let go of my arm. It was a nice day, but my thoughts were flying around. Why was she being like this. Usually she'd never ask for help, right? I enter my house, not muttering a word.

"Greig?" Natsuki breaks the silence.

"Yeah?" I reply, my thoughts shattered momentarily.

"Will your parents mind if I stay?" her eyes showed her anxiousness.

"I live alone" I casually mutter in response.

A shocked expression came across her face. "Sorry" She said to the floor.

"Don't be" I comfort her, rubbing her head. "You hungry?" I ask, hoping to lighten the mood and clear my head a little.

"N-No" She looks away.

Before she can say anything else I put on my apron. I start making a simple stir fry dish, I'm guessing quantity over quality. I wasn't anything special, but years of cooking alone had taught me something I guess.

"It's ready" I say, as I place a bowl in front of her.

"I said I'm not hungry" She looks up at me.

I don't respond and decide to try cheering her up. She starts eating. 'Not hungry huh'. But I know I shouldn't tease her now, the timings all wrong. The dish is empty within a matter of minutes. She looks little happier now, but I have a plan to lift her spirits. I grab her hand.

"W-What are you doing!" She blurts out. She tries to retract her hand but puts so little effort into it that it has the opposite effect. We burst into my room, I'm almost certain she has the wrong idea. She pulls her hand away, "Why am I in your room?" She shouts, trying to sound angry, but blushing so heavily that I now know she has the wrong idea. I point up to a bookshelf on my wall.

"Wanna read?" I ask, hoping the idea would work.

Her eyes lit up, "Yeah!" She sounded so excited. She noticed me watching, "Why are you staring at me?"

"Cause you're cute" I say, smiling.

"I-I'm not cute!" She cries back at me, cute as can be.

We start to choose which manga we want to read. It's mostly slice of life as you'd expect. I read a lot of casual manga, but not the cutesy kind Natsuki likes. In the end, we decide on a more mature manga than I'd expect. "You sure you wanna read this?" I ask.

"Yeah" She responds, almost aggressively.

"I wasn't trying to insult you" I sincerely reply.

"I-I know that" She turns away.

I sit down on my bed, my back against the wall. She bounces over next to me. We start reading the manga, making good progress in our seclusion. The motionless scene was shattered when we hit page 56, it was a lewd page, but was only suggestive. It seems however, that Natsuki thought otherwise. She placed both hands on one of my shoulders and moves her face closer to mine. She's blushing profusely, which in turn makes me blush. No words are exchanged, and we continue the manga. At page 107 we take a break, my shoulder felt as though it would fall off.

"You hungry?" I ask again, it was pretty long since we last ate.

She sighs in response, "W-Why are you so kind to me?"

I look away, blushing. I don't know myself after all. "I'll grab some snacks" I make my exit down the stairs. I grab a few packets of crisps, Natsuki seemed like she could eat anyways. I make my way up the stairs, my hands filled with the treats. I bash the door open with my head and dump the pile of food on my bed. But the pink haired tsundere was nowhere to be seen. Confusion fills my head as I wonder where she went, I'm so concentrated I don't notice a footstep behind me.

"Don't dodge the question!" She shouts while pushing me forwards. I lose my balance and fall onto the bed. She falls with me. Her head hits me straight in the sternum, 'ah fuck that hurts'.

"You okay" I sigh, she does this a lot I guess.

"Ouch" She looks up at me, a little bit of blood dribbling out of her nose.

I sit up to try and check if it was as bad as I thought but fail to tell Natsuki. She jerks back and nearly falls. I grab her shoulders in the nick of time, only to get a jab to the eyes.

"Tell me if you're gonna do something like that" She states, sternly.

"Sorry, your nose was bleeding, I just wanted to check if you were okay" I say as genuine as I can.

"Idiot" She mumbles, blushing. She tries to change the topic "Did you at least get the snacks?".

"Yeah, its just here" I point to the end of the bed, but before I can say anything else she reaches out and starts eating. I smile, but realise the position we're in. Her legs were nearly wrapped around my back, and she was sitting on my lap. I can't stop blushing, but if she sees me like this I'm dead. "U-Um" I stutter.

"What?" She mumbles with a mouthful of crisps.

"Don't talk with a full mouth" I scold her.

"Yeah, yeah" She brushes it off.

Ah I forgot, "A-Are you comfortable?" I try to tease her, to make it less awkward.

"Eh?" She takes a minute to realise what I mean. "Pervert" She mumbles as she shuffles off my lap.

"You're the one who sat there!" I defend myself.

"Yeah, but you were the one who pulled me down" She argues.

"And you're the one who pushed me" I start to smile.

"Sh-Shut up" She giggles.

We spend a while eating and reading manga, making jokes in-between and talking about the world. It was all going great. "We'd best get going to bed now" I say, checking the time.

"Huh, o-oh sure" Natsuki replies sounding disappointed.

I stand up and start to leave the room.

"Wait" I turn to see Natsuki staring sadly at me, as if she was afraid of something.

"What is it?" I ask, forcing a smile.

"Aren't you sleeping in here?" She tilts her head.

"No, you are" I smile gently, it felt good that someone cared about me. "I'll just sleep downstairs for the night".

"No" a blunt voice responded.

"Eh?" Now I was confused, have I said something wrong?

"C-Can't we share a room together?" She pouts, hidden behind her knees.

"Sure, I'll just bring up the futon" I say as calmly as I could, my heart was racing.

Her eyes opened up wide and a grin lit up her face. "Now brush your teeth" I try to distract myself from the perfect pink haired girl I'm sharing the night with. I carry the futon up on my shoulder, hoping she wouldn't surprise me. I arrive to an empty room. I lay the futon out and walk to the bathroom. The water was running and I could hear humming, so I assumed she was brushing her teeth. I knock but no response follows, "I'm coming in" I shout just loud enough so she can hear. I open the door and to my surprise the pinkette was nowhere to be seen. A wave of hot air and steam hits me, and a crushing realisation arrives. I try to leave and salvage the situation. But to my dismay Natsuki steps out of the shower as I turn. I catch a glimpse, but quickly exit. 'I'm dead'.

I make the bed, ready for her to sleep in. Hoping that I get off the hook lightly. My mind flashes back to her naked body, 'Oh man'. I come up with an idea.

"Hey, Natsuki" I shout, my voice wobbling.

"Yeah?" She shouts back, sounding annoyed.

'I've fucked it'

"You want some fresh clothes?"

'I hope she isn't mad'.

"Do you have some?" She asks, sounding much cheerier now.

"I have some spare pyjamas and a hoodie" I think of clothes she could borrow.

"Hm" She hums sounding like she's struggling to make a decision.

"They'd be a bit big, but it'll be comfy" I say, trying to edge her on.

"Fine, if you insist" She exaggerates.

I grab the clothes and put them through a small crack in the door. She pokes her head out.

"Th-They're a bit big" She's blushing.

"It'll be fine" I say, wondering why it matters so much.

She walks around the corner, the hoodie fit loose on me, so on her the neck was barely hitting her shoulders. It looked more like a dress than a hoodie. The pyjama bottoms weren't much better, they only just fit on her hips and the legs were about double the size of hers.

"God that's cute" I say while breathing out.

"Sh-Shut up" She turns her head to the side blushing. She opens one eye, "I-Is it really?".

"Yeah, it's super cute" I convince her.

"Hmpf" She closes her open eye.

She was really cute.

She sits on the bed, "Wanna read some more?".

That's an offer I can't refuse when she's looking like that, "Sure".

We manage to finish an entire series of manga, so we start another one. But at the third volume Natsuki's head hits my shoulder. I turn to see her sleeping, a little bit of drool coming out of her mouth. I lay her out onto the bed and put the covers over her, 'She's gonna be way to hot under there'. 'I can't exactly take a girl's clothes off without asking first though, and what if she's fine anyways?'. I tuck her in and place a glass of water near-by. I take a glance at her sleeping face; her cheeks were rosy and she was gripping onto her pillow. Actually, it looked as though she's crying. I lean closer, she was crying. I stare, not knowing what to do. Should I wake her?

I fall back into my futon, hoping the noise woke her up so it would less awkward. She must be heavy sleeper, not even phased. I close my eyes hoping I would slowly drift off, but I knew I couldn't sleep with her like this. Why am I so nice to her? As I lie in bed thinking hopelessly of ways to help her, an idea comes to mind. But the idea leaves as fast as it came. Just as all hope is lost, a slight arm falls over the bed. Then a leg. And finally, the inevitable happens. I react quickly for a change and catch the sleeping beauty gently. 'How the fuck is she sleeping through this?', I stand up with her in my arms. She's warm, really warm. I lay her onto the bed, but when I try to retract my arm she grips onto it. She tugs, and tugs, until I sit on the side of the bed. 'No way is she sleeping', "Natsuki, I'm tired please can you let go?" I say, passive aggressively. She doesn't respond. **She doesn't respond.**


	4. The bends

I wake up the next morning, my arm completely numb. Natsuki was still sleeping. Her face was peaceful while she rested, her breath tickled slightly. Wait. I realised at that moment, that I was in bed with this girl. Fuck. Her leg was wrapped over me and her arm was resting above my head. I start wriggling out, trying not to wake her up. She moans. Holy shit that's lewd. I manage to break out but start to fall off the bed. I grab a hold of the nearest thing in my panic. A loud thud follows and a pink flash lands on top of me.

"Ah, fuck" I mumble.

"What" She says groggily, still waking up after being rudely interrupted.

"S-Sorry" I rub the back of my head, hoping I'll get off lightly.

She comes to her senses, "Why am I on top of you?" She starts to get angry. "And why are we on the floor?" Her anger turns to fury. Before I can explain the situation a small head slams into my nose.

"Why the nose?" The pain was immense.

"Pervert" She shouts and turns her head.

I say nothing, my nose was still hurting and I didn't know what to say. I look up to see Natsuki staring at me, looking a little hurt.

"S-Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have hit you so hard" She says to the floor.

"It's okay" I say, way to close to her face for comfort.

"I-It's not like I cared or anything" She blushes, "I just didn't want to see you cry or anything".

She stands up and holds out a hand to help me up. I take her offer and get on my feet.

"What time is it?" I ask.

"9:00" She says casually.

"What do you wanna do?".

We decide to go out and pick up something for lunch. I know a café that does decent food but it has a reasonable price tag. Not the most romantic thing, but she won't mind. We take our seats and as I assumed she orders a burger.

"Not very ladylike eh?" I tease, a cheeky grin plastered on my face.

"Piss off" She giggles back at me, her fang almost glinting.

I decided to a calzone. They were pretty good here, thin and stone baked was pretty awesome. And they were about as heavy as lead. We start chatting about the manga we were reading last. The conversation varies and we get to the topic of Natsuki's baking prowess.

"Why did you start baking?" I ask.

"I'll tell you if you promise to keep it a secret" She says, smiling.

"S-Sure" I start to get excited. I wonder what secret this cute girl is gonna tell me.

"Parfait girls"

Oh, that should've been obvious, "Yeah?" I try to sound interested, really disappointed in myself for thinking I was gonna be let in on something big.

"I know it sounds cringey" She continues, "But finding love like in a manga isn't impossible I guess".

What. I pretend not to hear it. I turn to see if she noticed what she'd said, and saw the pink tsundere turn red.

"Here's one burger and one calzone" The waiter thankfully broke the silence.

"Let's eat I guess" I say, hoping we could leave the conversation behind us.

Before we could go back to any conversation she was stuffing her face. This should turn me off, but she looked so happy. She looked so cute. I decided to stop dawdling and eat my lunch while it was hot. I grabbed a knife and fork and tucked in. It was as I expected, decent. I look up to see Natsuki staring at me. I still had a quarter of a calzone left. I cut of a piece and put it on my fork, then hold it out for Natsuki. She leans forward and has a bite, then eats the whole thing. I cut of another slice and do the same again. She looked adorable when she smiled, and man did she smile when she ate.

"You wanna come over my place again?" I ask.

"Nah, my Dad would kill me" She exaggerates with a smile.

I was hoping she'd stay another night, but I know that it's too much to ask.

"See you at school" She beams at me.

"Yeah, see you" I wanted to do something, a hug, maybe a kiss. But the timing was all off. We parted our ways. As soon as I got back into the house, I checked the fridge for a drink. All I had was cheap lager, "drinking is bad for you" I sigh, ironically as I grab the flimsy aluminium can. Man, why was I feeling so sad, so longing. I chug the can and dunk it in my bin. I start writing a poem. 'A clear head' is what I'll title it. After all I need to clear my head, and this beer isn't gonna help any. The idea of kissing Natsuki was running through my head, does she like me? Am I being dense? Or am I being optimistic thinking someone so beautiful would love me? Negative thoughts fill my head, negative thoughts flow onto the paper. A poem about something so sweet, just functioning no more. I finish the poem. I had no more room on the page, and nothing to drink. I throw myself on the bed, hoping the bad thoughts will dry up.

I take a walk to ease my troubled mind. My body was numb, but I could still feel the dry night air chill my arms. I wander through the streets. I see stars in the sky. I see… Natsuki? I rub my eyes, certain that I was imagining things. She was alone, walking outside. I approach, checking to see if it really was her. And as I close the distance I realise I was mistaken. I continue walking, the pink haired girl staring at me intently. Her gaze burned me, I was a fool for trying to be happy. What kind of girl would like such a shallow minded guy. I make it back to my house; my mind only being distorted further into sadness. I curl up into a ball on my bed. 'I want to die', I slowly drift off into sleep. I wake up the next morning, still fully clothed. 7:30, I strip off and do a morning exercise routine. 8:00 I have a shower and eat breakfast. 8:30 I grab my school bag and set off. I arrive at school at 9:00, Sayori had set off at a similar time to me so we bumped into one another.

"How's it hanging Greig?" She shouts, out of breath trying to catch me.

"Morning" I say, unenthusiastically.

She makes idle chit chat on the way to school, "Weathers nice, eh?".

"Is it?" I say, ignoring her.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Sayori squirming, she looked dumbfounded at my bluntness.

"I-Is something bothering you Greig?" She asks, sincerely.

'Yeah she's right next to me' I think to myself. "No, not really" I mumble at the floor.

Now Sayori looked helpless, not knowing what to do. 'I wouldn't want to be in her shoes'.

"Sorry, I'm just not feeling well today" I say as convincingly as I can.

"Oh, you shouldn't have come to school then" She took the bait.

"Yeah, I guess I just wanted to see you guys" I respond, on autopilot.

I snap back to reality and realise what I've said. I look at Sayori, she's blushing like mad.

"It wasn't that cute surely" I convince Sayori, and myself.

"I-It's just that you don't usually say nice things like that" She murmurs hidden behind her hands.

"Don't I?" I ask.

"Your nice but you don't say cute things" Sayori explains.

"Oh"

"You should say them more often" She stares at me, blushing.

"M-Maybe I will" I look away from her.

She giggles "Aren't you a little tsundere"

"So what if I am" I smile back at her.

And that's how my mood was lifted before school, an epiphany to be nice and an old friend cheering me up.


	5. Dreams of Love and Literature

I drudge through school, in anticipation to how my 'cute' approach would work. I stumble through the door, exhausted after a long day. Yuri smiles at me, to awkward to speak. Monika notices my drowsy figure fall into a chair. "Long day huh?" She smiles at me.

"Yeah, I guess" I respond, monotone.

She gets back to work, recognising that I want a minute to myself. Sayori was distracting herself with basically anything but work. And in the corner of the room, secluded, sat Natsuki. She was indulging herself in a manga. Not one I'd heard of at least. I get up, out of my chair. Natsuki looks up from her page for a moment, then looks away. I make my way over to her. She hides behind the book, her eyes poking out of the top. Before I can speak she pats the floor next to her, her eyes glinting with excitement. I take my seat. She shuffles closer, our hips were touching. I shuffle closer, her legs were thin but squishy. She nuzzles into me, gently. We read the manga, not a single word spoken. It was some generic harem, but I couldn't concentrate on it anyways. She smelled of cherries, but not to sweet. Her hair was soft against my neck. I could feel her shallow breath rebounding across the pages. She rested her head on my shoulder and dosed off.

"That's cute" Sayori squeals.

"Y-Yeah" Yuri whispers, "I wonder what they were doing" She murmurs, her face flushing a little.

"Um, okay" Monika responds, a little creeped out.

"That was a bit weird Yuri" Sayori says, trying to scold her.

"S-Sorry" Yuri said to the floor.

"Don't be sad" Sayori starts comforting her.

Monika stood in disbelief that someone could have a change of heart in under a second. Meanwhile Natsuki stirred.

"Shit did we wake them up" Monika gasps.

Natsuki sat up for a second and stared at the girls, then placed her head on Greig's lap. The group inspected her face, to see if she really was asleep.

"Unbelievable" Yuri exhales.

"That's our Natsuki" Sayori cheers, unintendedly ironic.

The girls scatter off, doing their usual chores. Yuri brewed some tea, Sayori was humming a tune and Monika took the opportunity to borrow Natsuki's manga. All was quiet in the clubroom. Then, out of the blue I awoke.

I immediately uttered the words "That was a weird dream".

"What was it about?" Monika intrigues.

"Natsuki fell-" I stopped myself, it would be embarrassing if someone knew that I dreamed about Natsuki.

"She fell asleep on your lap eh?" Monika teases with a smug grin.

"How-" I was at a loss for words. But before I could say anything else Monika places her finger on her lips "Shh". She points down. I look down.

"Oh my god" Monika is in tears with laughter "Your face" She manages to utter out between giggles. Natsuki starts stirring but doesn't wake up. I'm defenceless to her taunts.

She stops laughing "Here, I'll help" And without hesitation she pokes Natsuki on the nose.

Natsuki wakes up almost immediately "Morning" She mumbles into my leg.

"Morning" Monika says, trying to keep a straight face.

Natsuki buries her head into my leg, completely neglecting that Monika had greeted her. She lifts her head again, her eyes squinted in thought.

"Why's Monika here" She looks up at me, "Why are you here". She pokes at my thigh and sits up. Monika and I looked at her for a moment, then she realised the situation she was in. Her face flushed pink and she shot up, trying to escape the awkward situation. However, in her haste she fell, straight on her ass.

"FUCK!" She screams the tears already falling. I'm stunned, how can this even happen. I stand up, holding out a hand, she grabs hold of it and I yank her up. She uses the momentum to hit into me. She takes me into a tight hug.

"My arse is killing me" She giggles.

"You shouldn't have been so rash" I start to lighten up a bit.

Monika left with a smile.

"Kiss it better" Natsuki looked dead serious.

"If you aren't careful I will" I try to tease her.

"Piss off" She giggles again.

I rub her head "That's not where it hurts" She stares into my eyes.

I blush and start to run my hand down her back. She gulps. Is this okay?

"Hey guys" Sayori jumps around the corner.

"AH!" Natsuki and I yelp in sync.

"Um, did I interrupt something?" She tilts her head in confusion.

"No, no not at all" Natsuki quickly covers up.

"Oh, it's time to share poems guys" Sayori explains.

"Right" I answer.

We do the usual swapping of the poems, Yuri's was as deep and foreboding as usual, Sayori's was cheerful with an underlying message, and Monika's was well written and had a basic plot that flowed well. But the only one I was anticipating was Natsuki's. It was simple, like usual, but had a deeper meaning. Nothing seemed different. That was until I thought about it a bit. It was quite sad, "A relationship turning sour?" I guess.

"Y-Yeah" She furrowed her eyebrows. She was reading mine. Truth be told I had no clue what I'd written, all I knew was that it was sad. She was still reading it.

"Is it that bad?" I tease.

"This, this is the same as mine" She claims, bluntly.

"No, it isn't" I say, as blunt as she had.

"No, I mean the meaning, we both wrote about love getting ruined" She explained clearer.

"Ah, that's a blunt way to put it" I'm not too bothered.

"Shut up" She rightfully responds. "Why'd you write it?" She asks.

"I-I guess I just felt like writing it" I answer, she can't know why. "What about you?".

"I-It's a fear of mine" She mumbles into the paper, "I saw someone who looked like you-" She cut herself off.

"I didn't catch that sorry" I reply wondering what she was so flustered over.

"Idiot" She turns her head away from me, like a stereotypical tsundere.

"Cutie" I tease her.

She turns bright red "Shut up, die".

I just chuckle in response.

"Clubs over guys!" Monika cheers with a smile.

"See ya!" Sayori calls, "Wanna go home together Greig?".

"Sure" I respond.

"Goodbye" Yuri says, cautiously.

"Ciao" Monika follows suit.

"I'll see you later, I guess" Natsuki looked disappointed.

"You could come around if you want" I try to cheer her up.

"I'm okay thanks, my dad wo-" She cuts herself off again.

"Okay" I decide not to inquire any further.

And with that me and Sayori walk home.

"You and Natsuki were pretty cute today" She says to the sky.

"Y-Yeah?" I blush.

"Yeah" She looked disheartened. She noticed me staring at her, "Don't think your in some harem, I don't love you as well" Her face lit up with a smile at her own joke.

"Who said I did" I say in an annoying voice.

"Shut it" She bumps me.

We reach our houses, "If you ever need me to cook for you just ask" She jokes.

"Right, should I get the fire brigade here now or later?" I reply.

She just waves in response.

I crash through my house like a hurricane. Today was embarrassing, but not awful I guess. I sprint into my bedroom, just to throw myself onto my bed. A warm feeling that burned in my core came about me, a fuzzy feeling in my head. I sit up, that pink haired priestess was on my mind again. It seemed she was all I could daydream about. I lay on my bed, thinking about her for a moment. Then I decide to grab a drink, after all I'd missed the tea at the club. I tear open the fridge, only to find nothing. I'd forgotten to pick up anything for dinner or anything to drink at all. I grab the money packet on the table, my parents were so busy with work that they didn't have time to raise a child. But they could at least brag that they have a kid if they just send him some money every so often.

I lock the door and set off to the convenience store, it was a warm night, about 15°c. I grab everything I need, some vegetables, some meat and some drinks. I start the trek home with my hands filled with cheap plastic bags. The wind was gentle, and warm, so the walk was a pleasant one. I think of ideas for my poem, it needs to be happier than the last one. I was so lost in my thoughts that I was already home. After restocking the fridge, I grab a drink, and start work on my next poem. It was a poem explicitly about warmth, but the deeper meaning was closer to love. 'This is the best one yet' I think to myself. I feel my eyes close. I wake up in the literature club, me and Natsuki were reading manga together.

"Don't fall asleep you moron" She nudges me.

"S-Sorry" I murmur.

"It's getting to a good bit" She notes. We read onwards. "This is it" She whispers. It was a kiss scene between two of the main characters, it was obvious that it would happen, but it still was cute. I look up at Natsuki, her eyes were gleaming. She closes her eyes and thrusts her head forwards. We kiss. Not the quick awkward kiss, a real kiss.

I wake up.


	6. Oracular spectacular

The page had a line going across it. I carry on writing, the poem. It was once concise and had a point, but my thoughts had drifted off. A poem that was meant to be sweet was just a mess now. I go to bed. The ceiling had 42 swirls on it, I counted. I roll my chair out and start writing. The poem was sweet. Maybe even too sweet. To the point where you may feel sad just reading it. 2:37am, I fall onto my bed and pass out. It was a warm day; the birds were chirping and life was good. Sayori and I followed the usual skit, of me waking her up that is. We made it to school and the school day was as expected. I get to lunchtime. Yet again, Natsuki was sat alone. I sit down next to her. She has a manga in hand, already a few pages in. It wasn't bad actually. I pull out my lunchbox and place it on the table, between our hands.

"Tuck in" I nonchalantly murmur.

"What" She, as bluntly as I had, replies.

"Feel free to eat, just save some for me" I explain, not really caring if she left anything.

"I don't need your pity" She mumbles, trying to look angry.

"It's not pity, I'm just not hungry" It wasn't a lie, because it wasn't pity. I just wanted her to eat, I don't know why though.

"Well if that's the case" She starts eating, quickly.

"If you don't slow down-"I'm cut off by her choking on the food. I hit her on the back.

"OUCH!" She shouts, the whole cafeteria looks at us.

I dip my head down, trying to hide from the gazes. They all look away.

"That hurt" She mumbles.

"It stopped you choking though didn't it?" I test the waters.

"You're a prick" She looks away.

I apologise, thinking it was a wrong move "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you"

"I-I'm not mad or anything" She says facing away from me.

"Huh?" I didn't hear a thing.

"I'm not mad!" She shouts, her face pouted.

"Um, okay" I reply, she looked pretty mad.

She continues eating, slower this time. I stare at her, she was cute when she was vulnerable like this. When she ate she had a glowing smile on her face.

"T-Thanks, I guess" She murmurs with a wry smile.

"No problem" I felt as though it was worth it, no clue why. "Wanna go for a walk" I suggest, my heart in my throat.

"Sure" She says, sounding unsure.

We take a walk to a quiet area behind one of the blocks, the grass was overgrown and the flowers coated the ground. But the blossoms from the trees made this a very pretty place at this time of year. The air was warm and humid, too warm for a blazer. I pack my blazer and jumper in my bag, only wearing my shirt. I look to Natsuki "You not hot?"

"N-No" She mumbles, sweating.

"There's no need to lie, I can see you sweating" I respond.

"It's not because the heat, it's because this feels like a dat-" She mumbles the last few words.

"I didn't quite catch the last bit of that" I tease.

"I-It's nothing, you moron" The last bit was shouted with a pout on her face. She turns away from me and takes off her blazer. Then tries to take off her jumper. It gets stuck at her shoulders.

"Need a hand?" I say, more of a rhetoric than a question. I walk over and hold her shirt with one hand and help her pull with the other, the jumper comes off. Wham, her hand strikes my face.

"What are you doing!" She scolds, but not too loudly as not to draw attention.

My eyes start to water, I wipe my eyes. I take a step back, my nose running with blood.

"Sorry" I apologise, turning red with embarrassment, but hiding it with a smile.

Natsuki stared at me, blushing far harder than I was. We both blushed like idiots for a moment, the blood from my nose dripping onto the daisies. She pinches my nose.

"Sorry, you didn't deserve that, I guess" She breaks into a wry smile, trying to look sincere.

"You don't need to apologise" I say, sounding weird with my nose.

She burst into a fit of laughter, "You sound like a fucking moron".

"That's because of a certain someone" I retort.

"Hm, maybe you did deserve it then" She starts teasing.

"You've got blood all over my shirt now, you best take responsibility for that" I counter.

"Yeah, sure" She says dead serious.

"What"

"I said sure, I'll come by yours then" She still looked serious.

"O-Okay" I stutter out, taken aback by her sudden bluntness.

"I-It's not because I feel guilty or anything" She twirls away from me.

"It's because I…" The end of her sentence was cut off by the bell.

"What did you say?" I act blunt.

"N-Nothing" She blushes.

"W-We should go back to lesson eh?" I change the topic.

"Yeah, lets"

Did she say what I thought she said. Or am I delusional, hoping that she said what I wanted her to.

I'm spacing out in lesson, thinking of what I'll do later. Maybe I'll go on the pc. Maybe I'll do an extra workout and get the abs going. Nah, I'll go on the pc. The bell rings, I start to walk the same route home. Ah shit. I turn around and stand at the front gate. I spot the pink haired midget searching form me, she looked timid. I sneak up to her.

"Hey" I say fast, close to her ear to amplify the reaction.

She screams, I burst into laughter.

"Fuck you" She murmurs.

"Wow, that's nasty" I tease.

"I'll not clean your shirt"

"Sorry, it was a harmless joke" I try to negotiate.

"I nearly pissed myself, how's that harmless" She whispers aggressively, as to not draw attention.

"Sorry, sorry" I change the topic "You were looking pretty bashful back there"

"Huh, was I?"

"Yeah, if you're not careful some poor bastard'll try and hit on you" I smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean" She cracks her knuckles.

"They'd just expect some cute girl, not an angry cute otaku" I explain myself.

"Hey, hey, that's not nice at all" She pouts.

Man, she changes personalities fast "Anyways It'd be awkward if you get a boyfriend"

"Why's that?" She smiles.

Shit, what did I just say. "Erm, I j-just meant we couldn't read manga as often" I sputter out.

Her smile goes away and is replaced by a thoughtful face. "Good point".

We walk back to my house, Natsuki decided to drop Monika a text letting her know that we weren't going today. We walk in. Natsuki slips off her shoes, "Hm" She looks inquisitively.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Nothing" She dismisses me.

"Ouch" I mutter.

She ignores this. "Let's get that shirt cleaned up then".

"Nah it's fine, I'll wash it later" I try to convince her.

"You'll just stick it in the washer eh?" She hits bullseye.

"So, what if I do?"

"Come closer, I'll teach you how to wash" She dodges the question.

"One sec" I take the shirt off.

Maybe some extra ab work wouldn't have gone a miss. I hand her the shirt. Her eyes keep drifting to me.

"Want me to put a shirt on?" I ask.

"No!" She shouts very quick. "I-I mean, not if you don't want to, but if you really want to then I'm n-"

"I'll just stay like this then" I cut her off.

"I'm not interested in your body or anything" She responds, letting out a cute 'hmpf' at the end. Man, is she from a manga or something.

"Get closer" She mumbles.

"S-Sure" I get closer, and I get redder.

"You need to put some muscle into it, see" She starts cleaning my shirt in some warm soapy water.

She shows me the steps and by the end of it the blood had gone.

"Vanish gold, works in only 30 seconds" Natsuki proclaims, sounding like a tv advert.

I run upstairs leaving Natsuki bewildered. I come down wearing a loose-fitting vest and holding a huge hoodie.

"Huh, what's the point in a vest if you're gonna wear a hoodie?"

I threw the hoodie at her, which resulted in her getting enveloped in its massiveness.

"Hey" She shouts from under her tent of a hoodie.

"You can get comfy, I'll leave the room if you want" I offer.

"N-Nah it's good, you won't see much anyways" She claims over the Olympian hoodie.

No way, this is too good to be true.

Oh, I won't see cause of the hoodie.

She puts the hood on and unbuttons her shirt, her back to me. But as she slides the shirt off the hoodie gets caught too. Instinctively she turns around to catch it.

Jackpot.


	7. Pablo honey

We stand, staring at one another for a moment.

I turn away from her, "S-Sorry"

Natsuki didn't say a word. Until she slid the hoodie over her petite frame.

"I-It's my fault anyways" She mumbled into the hoodie.

"I shouldn't have looked, I was-" I was cut off by her touching my back. Taking this to mean I could turn around now, I span on the spot. Just to be met by a walking green hoodie. "The cutest thug in the world" I think aloud.

"I-I'm not cute" She pouts, quieter than usual.

"Yeah, right" I pat her on the head.

She gently punches me in the gut. I pull her hood up and hand her a manga.

"Wanna read?"

She smiles.

After hours of reading I stand up from my bed, my legs cramping from the awkward position I was in. I look at Natsuki she's fast asleep, still in that huge hoodie. I feel a sense of déjà vu, remembering the last time I tried to touch her in. It would be rude not to though, she'd cramp up. I pick her up and hold her in one arm, 'She's light, Jesus, she's light' I pulled back the covers and placed her in. 'Wait, was she meant to stay the night?' it'd be rude to wake her up, but if she was meant to go home she'd get in deep shit.

"Natsuki" I say as gentle as I can.

Her face screws up a little, "5 more minutes".

"It'll just be a minute, you can sleep afterwards" I hope to convince her into listening.

"What is it"

"Aren't you meant to go home?" I ask.

She sits up and stares at me, "I might be in trouble" She smiles awkwardly.

"So, are you going home?" I ask, trying not to be too pushy.

"If you want me to" She starts pushing the covers off.

"Do you want to go home?" I ask, a thought coming into my head.

"No"

"Then get back in bed" I throw her a manga "Here you go"

"Thanks, you have a charger?"

"Yeah, give me your phone"

She passes me her phone, when I put it on charge the screen flashes up. I can't help but look at her notifications. 20+ missed calls and what must have been hundreds of texts.

"You sure you're okay staying here?" I don't want to cause any trouble.

"Yes, I've already said" She growls at me.

"But…" I trail off, realising that mentioning the calls would be an admission to checking her phone.

"But what?" She questions, pushy.

"It looks like your old man is worried about you"

"So, what if he is, why are you looking at my phone anyways?" She retorts.

I ignore the question "Would a response hurt that much?"

"What does it mean to you?" She shouts.

Taken aback I was speechless.

"You know nothing about me, you don't know my family, you don't know a thing" She carries on.

I sat, staring helplessly as she ran out of the room. I heard the front door slam, but just stared onwards at the wall. I was in a state of pure fury, but I just stayed motionless. I was angry at myself, I was insensitive. But what she said, hurt.

"Greig?" I heard a voice shout from downstairs.

Footsteps approached me, but all I did was stare at the wall. What else was there to do.

"Greig" Sayori wandered into my room. "Natsuki came sprinting out of your house, did something happen?"

I just sat and stared, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Your doors broken anyways" She puts bluntly.

"Oh" I stand up and walk out the front door. Barefoot I walk along the street.

"Greig stop" Sayori grabs me from behind.

"What?" I say sharply.

"You'll hurt yourself"

"So what"

"Talk it out tomorrow, okay?" She puts on a smile.

"Thanks, but I fancy a walk anyways" I smile back at her.

I walk away, towards nowhere. I wander for god knows how long. Eventually I end up back at my house, still feeling empty. Sayori was stood waiting.

"Oh my god" A look of shock fills her eyes.

I turn around sharply, expecting something behind me. Nothing.

"What's wrong" I ask her hurriedly, concerned at her sudden horror.

"Greig" She looks sad. "I told you you'd get hurt"

I inspect my body: my clothes were shredded; my feet were bloodied, and some skin was replaced with a white and red mess. I sit down on a chair.

"Holy shit, that's agony" I say, calmly.

Sayori fills a tub with water and grabs a cloth.

"I'm gonna clean some of the blood off"

"The wounds can't be too big I think, must have just bled a lot" I try to justify.

She starts cleaning it, the pain is immense. 'I've troubled her enough, so I can't be annoying while she's helping' I think to myself.

"O-Oh shit" Sayori mumbled.

Sayori just swore, wow. "Hey you just swore"

"Shut up, I'm calling an ambulance, what the hell did you do?"

"I just walked around for a bit" I suddenly had a vague idea of what happened. "Reckon I got hit by something?"

"Yeah, I think so" She helped me up and walked to her parent's car. "I'll get dad to take us to hospital"

"Thanks"

"No problem" She smiled back at me.

Honestly, I would've expected Sayori to have a boyfriend by now. She's cute, funny, a clutz and is the kindest person I know. But I couldn't date her. I don't know why, I used to like her but when I thought of her I couldn't feel a thing. She deserves someone better than me anyways.

The trees flew past the car, blurred by the darkness. The xenon beams running along the tar, which the orange glow of the street lamps bounced off. The radio was on, playing some early 2000's stuff. Sayori was fidgeting, I tap her shoulder and smile. She smiles back at me, but instantly looks down at my leg.

We make it to the hospital, it looked the same as it did 20 years ago. That's what happens when you make cuts to the hospitals I guess. An hour and a little morphine later my wounds are treated.

"You're very lucky" The doctor explains "No broken bones or torn ligaments"

"Oh" I say in response.

"However, I wouldn't be doing much exercise with those injuries, so I'd take a few weeks off if I were you" She says with a blank expression.

"Um, what happened exactly?" I ask.

"You don't know?"

"Nope" I reply bluntly

"You were hit by a car" She replies, even blunter than I.

We go home.

"I'm really sorry for the trouble" I say to Sayori and her dad.

"It's okay son, you couldn't have done much about it" He replies.

"It's okay Greig, I know you'd do the same for me" She cheers.

"Thanks"

I get into my house, my legs killing me and my abs all bruised. Stumbling towards the settee I recall Natsuki's outburst. Lost in my thoughts I bump my leg into the sofa. Fuck.

I wake up the next morning, still on the sofa. I wanted to go to school, I wanted to see Natsuki and apologise. I sit up, my legs stiff. Pain shot up and into my abdomen when I stood up. I put on some shorts and a light t-shirt, school would understand. I stick a pair of trainers on, each step felt like knifes running along my ligaments. It was excruciating to even walk. Even getting out of the front door felt like hours. I should stay at home today, but I at least want to apologise to her. I stumble my way towards school, my fists clenched in agony. My teeth felt like they were going to crumble, the pain in my legs spread to my abs then ribs.

Sayori should be still be sleeping at this point, I'll try to catch Natsuki on the gate. A short walk to school felt like hours of torture. Why was I pushing myself to apologise in person, I could just text. The thoughts rush out of my head as the pain replaces them. Fists white I reach the school gates, Natsuki should be here soon. Grey clouds form above, razor blades of rain fall from the white abyss. How couldn't I notice the weather? Stood in shorts when it was raining was just asking for trouble. 'Oh hell with it, I've gotten this far, can't let a little rain stop me'. The trees looked a darker shade of green, the pavement turned from a light grey to a heavy cobblestone; the world looked a bit bleak for a while. The children walked past in their monotone colours, made even more common by the rain tumbling from the heavens. Everyone had arrived, Sayori, Monika and Yuri. But Natsuki didn't arrive, I stumble my way back to the house, my spirits and my body dampened.


	8. Achievement

As the door slammed behind me the phone rang.

"Hello is this Greig?" The voice asked.

"Yes, who is it?" I answered in an awful mood.

"School, we're wondering where you are at the moment" They ask incriminatingly.

"I'm at home recovering from a serious accident" I reply harshly, hoping to embarrass them.

"Oh" They mumble sheepishly.

I stay silent.

"Well, we hope you recover quickly" They say, earnestly.

"Bye" I answer, guilty about being so blunt.

"Goodbye".

I hang up.

I collapse on my sofa, the world spinning around me. Is she avoiding me? Delusions ran through my head, what landmine did I stand on? I stay deathly still, immobile. My eyes started to close, slowly, slowly, then bang; the front door was exploding with knocking. Started, panicked by the noise, I creeped towards the door, holding my abdomen where the tender flesh had torn open.

"W-Who is it?" I rasp.

"Me" A cute voice calls back, with a hint of aggression.

It can't be her, she wouldn't skip school to see me. Not after the argument we had. I open the door, peering my head around to see who was there. A foot below where I was looking stood a pink haired menace, irritated that I had took my time getting to the door.

"What's up with you then?" She asked, bitterness on her voice.

"What" I was dumbfounded.

"Why aren't you at school, dumbass" The end of the sentence sounded far less sour than the rest of it.

"Oh, I hurt myself" I rubbed the back of my head in awkwardness.

"Really, it couldn't have been too bad though"

"Actually I-" I was cut off.

"You managed to make it to school and back" She continued "So why didn't you arrive?" And continued "Too chicken to see me?" And continued "Sorry, but I have no time for cowards".

"I was hit by a car I think"

Natsuki's smug face disappeared in a flash. "What". Now it was her turn to be lost for words. "What do you mean 'I think?'"

"I got concussed I guess" I turn my head to look at her. She looked upset. Upset enough to cry. I went too far this time.

"W-Well, I'm really sorry" She started

I walked over to her, "I'm fine, honestly"

"No, I went overboard"

"Seriously, I'm fine"

"I-It's not like I cared, you asshat" She turns her head.

Why did you apologise then?

"Anyways I've really wanted to see you" I blurt out.

"W-What" Natsuki went a deep pink colour.

"I'm really sorry, seriously" I begin. "I went to school to apologise, but you weren't there"

"Are your injuries bad?" Natsuki gently placed her hand on my stomach, dodging the question.

"No, just a graze or two" I change back to the point at hand, "C-Could you forgive me?".

She let out a big sigh, "I mean I could, but you'd have to do something for me"

"What" I say quickly, not hiding that I wanted to fix the mess I made as fast as I could.

"I'll show you" She said.

She went straight up the stairs, and into my room. I followed, but at a much slower pace, after all if I went fast my cuts might re-open. Once I made it to the top of the stairs a realisation rapidly set in, Natsuki wanted a favour, and brought me into my room. What does this mean? My heart started racing. I stumbled into the room trying to keep my emotions in check. She was sat on my bed with a hoodie on, my hoodie on.

"Took you long enough" She teased.

"It's hard to move when you're a living bandage" I retorted.

She simply laughed at my reply. "Anyways, let's get to business"

"Already, I can barely move" I exclaimed.

"You don't need to move too much" She responded, "Now stop interrupting me and listen".

"Okay"

"Be my pillow"

"Sure" I responded straight faced.

And with that she rested her head on my thigh.

"Pat my head"

"Sure" Once again with a straight face. 'Does she think this is an anime or something?' I started ruffling her hair gently nonetheless. But then she turned a bright red and started moaning a little.

"What's up?" I ask.

"T-This is more embarrassing than I thought it would be" She mumbles out.

I just stare at her judgingly, 'I mean what's the point in telling me to do something that makes you so uncomfortable?'.

"I just thought that in mangas and anime it looks really nice but in real life it's just cringy" She tried to reason.

Oh, so it was from an anime.

"Let's just read a manga instead" I suggest.

"Y-Yeah, good idea" She smiles, while blushing.

She slips a manga out of her bag, "You sure about skipping school?" I ask abruptly.

"I-I have my reasons" She speaks into the book.

"And they are?" I tease carefully, not sure if teasing just after making up is a good idea.

"I wanted to see you" She mumbled quietly.

I sat and stared at her, speechless. 'Did she just say that?'

"N-Not really" She nervously laughed, obviously backtracking on what she'd just said.

"Of course" I also laughed, equally as nervous.

We both laughed awkwardly until I decided to shuffle closer to her, she shuffled away. I flinched in response, worried I had made the wrong decision. But before I could die from embarrassment she pulled on my arm, signalling to move closer. I did as asked, and she leaned her tiny head onto my shoulder. And with that we started reading. Her pink locks drifted in and out of my vision. Earlier today I wouldn't have dreamed of being this close to her, let alone 10 or so minutes after making up. Nonetheless I was glad that the heavy air surrounding us had dispersed, and a different mood was being set. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it felt warm and almost fuzzy. Natsuki's light breath tickled my neck, it smelled sweet. Like strawberries. The manga wasn't particularly good, but I had a feeling that I'd remember it for a while yet.

"Oh, I just remembered something" Natsuki suddenly burst out, shattering the silence and the mood along with it.

"Yeah?" I responded, as not to be rude.

"One sec" She jumped off the bed and sprinted out the room. I could hear her light footsteps going down the stairs. Then a few seconds later, coming back up the stairs. She returned to the room panting slightly, she was no athlete after all.

"Here have this" She threw a drink at me.

"What is it" I ask, making conversation.

"Drink and you'll see" She said with a smile.

It was what appeared to be a sports drink, but the inside was green. Sorta like mountain dew, but not fizzy. I screwed to cap off and as suspected no carbon was released. I tried to smell the drink but Natsuki's sweet scent had mixed with it. I take a mouthful, it's sour but refreshing. I look at Natsuki who is staring at me, her eyes glistening as if looking for an answer.

"It's good" I say to her.

"W-Why would I care?" She looks away, blushing but smiling.

"Tsundere" I mutter.

"What was that?" She looked at me with a murderous look.

"Nothing" I say before taking another swig of the drink.

"Honestly" She sighs.

I smile at her, my heart at ease after making up.

Even though it was just entering Autumn it was cold enough to wear a jumper or coat. Natsuki, being as vigilant as ever, had not brought any such clothes with her. I threw her my shirt.

"You cold?" I ask.

"No, why do you care?" She attacked.

"Just wondering"

"Well ask before throwing a shirt at me" And with that she told me to leave the room. Why am I the one who leaves, it's my room not hers.

"You can come back in" She shouts.

I walk in and as expected she's wearing the shirt.

"You aren't cold?" I look at her with a questioning gaze.

"N-That's what I said" She looks away, sinking into my oversized t-shirt.

The shirt in question was a dark green shirt in the xl size, I'm only a medium so it was massive on me. Imagine that on Natsuki. It was amazing that it didn't just fall off cause the neck size was wider than her shoulders. Not wanting to repeat the past, I made a conscious effort not to play rough with her in case I knocked the shirt off.

We got back to reading. The atmosphere had slowed down to a point where we were comfortable enough to lean on one another. Her deep, sweet scent overwhelming me. Drowning me in a sea of strawberries and another smell I hadn't noticed earlier. I stared at her intensely, her face as fair as always. She didn't seem strange. So why does she smell of liquor?


End file.
